Posted By DJ Bean On March 4, 2014 @ 11:48 am In General | 13 Comments

Loui Eriksson will not play in Tuesday’s game against the Panthers due to a “minor issue,” according to B’s coach Claude Julien[1]. Eriksson and Adam McQuaid were the only players missing from the team’s morning skate.

Though the timing of Eriksson’s absence has led to speculation that the team could be trading the player, a team source indicated Tuesday that Eriksson’s absence doesn’t have anything to do with Wednesday’s trade deadline.

Julien would not specify whether Eriksson was injured, however, as he repeatedly said that Eriksson is out with an “issue” and that he will play on Thursday. With Eriksson out, Jordan Caron will play on the team’s third line with Carl Soderberg and Chris Kelly[2].

As for McQuaid, Julien said the team will make a decision by the end of the week as to whether they will have the player proceed with his rehab from a lower body injury or shut him down for the time being.

Tuesday’s game will be the 21st Eriksson has missed this season with the Bruins, with the other 20 absences due to a pair of concussions suffered. In his previous five seasons, Eriksson missed a total of three games with the Stars, all of which came in the 2010-11 season.

Eriksson is in his first season with the B’s after being the centerpiece of the package shipped to Boston in last July 4’s trade with Dallas. He has two more seasons on his contract after this season with a reasonable cap hit of $4.25 million a season.

In 40 games for Boston this season, Eriksson has six goals and 16 assists for 22 points and a plus-11 rating.